


in the orbit where you will blaze

by franception



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Genre: F/M, Secret Identity, Undercover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 01:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14462382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/franception/pseuds/franception
Summary: She has faint memories of sand sticking to her skin and the scalding sun burning the back of her neck, but no more; master Skywalker had come for her when she was three, talking about a mythical force that ruled the universe, and how strong she was with it.He sheds his old name and his old face, letting his hair grow out and then wearing a mask, like his grandfather did. When it is time to make his own lightsaber, he crafts a weapon as red as the flames of his fury.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the wait my dudes, uni has been kicking my butt, hard. enjoy!

CHAPTER 1

Rey woke up with the smell of burning wood. Her small room was slowly being filled by black smoke coming from under the door. Someone was screaming in the distance. She quickly shook awake her bunkmate Alix, a teenage padawan assigned to watch over the much younger Rey.

“Rey? What..?” Alix gasped as she was dragged from her sleep.

“Quick, the temple-” Rey almost couldn't finish the thought. The only home she had ever known was burning to pieces. “We need to get out!” 

Where were the masters? And what about the students? Master Skywalker had to know how to deal with the situation. The girls made their way down the dorm hallway and through the teaching buildings. 

Everything was either on fire or burned to ashes already. Rey mourned the years of training she would never get; she was only getting started with her lessons. She didn’t even know how to lift small objects with the Force, had never held a lightsaber before. 

Alix’s sweaty grip on her arm kept her focused through the smoke filling her lungs and clouding her thoughts. Once they managed to get outside, running as far as they could from the sweltering heat, they huddled together under the night sky, apparently the only survivors. 

Master Skywalker was nowhere to be seen, nor were the other masters. Neither girl knew their way through the desert plains that surrounded the temple. They were stranded, watching their home burn to the ground, and their friends in it. Rey started sobbing against her will.

“There! Look!” Alix pointed to the entrance door to the main building, but Rey was already running towards Master Skywalker, stumbling in the sand. He looked weary, dragging one leg behind him.

Kind, always kind master Skywalker, with his patient eyes as blue as his name. She had faint memories of sand sticking to her skin and the scalding sun burning the back of her neck, but no more; master Skywalker had come for her when she was three, talking about a mythical force that ruled the universe, and how strong she was with it. Four years had passed since then.

“Master Skywalker!” Rey screamed as her master’s body collapsed on the ground. He weakly gestured for her to come closer, holding something in his mechanical hand. 

The Jedi closed his fingers around Rey’s smaller ones. “Take this. You will keep it safe for me, won’t you?”

Rey was dazed. Alix had caught up with them, helping Master Skywalker to his feet; they were talking hurriedly above Rey’s head, but she couldn’t catch a word. Her world had shrank down to the metal cylinder in her hand. A real life lightsaber, Master’s own!

The horrors of the night had been forgotten. Rey carefully passed the object from hand to hand, welcoming the cold material against her burned hands. The weapon was calling to her, singing to her touch.

Gentle hands on her shoulders shook her from her reveries. Master Skywalker was kneeling in front of her.  
“I must go now” he whispered, looking over her head to the burning temple. His thoughtful eyes went back to hers. “I made a mistake and I must pay for it. Now sleep, child. I hope you will forgive me.” 

Rey started complaining, latching to her master’s sleeve with all her strength, but before she could utter a word, she was asleep. 

*

Rey and Alix had fled on a small ship; Alix had just learnt to fly one, so the take-off had been shaky at best, but it had got them off the planet.

For a few seconds, Rey had seen the ruins of the temple from above, still ablaze in some spots. She pictured Master Skywalker in the midst of it, burning to death. She flinched away from the cold surface of the window. Alix lay back in her seat with her eyes shut, but her posture was tense and her left leg was shaking.

“Where are we going?” asked Rey, trying to keep her mind busy and away from the fire.

“I’m going back to my family on Masaq” replied Alix “You…” she added hesitantly, avoiding Rey’s eyes “Force knows I’d like to bring you with me, but I have orders from Master Skywalker to take you to these coordinates”.

Her eyes closed once again; many hours passed by in the frigid silence of space. Rey watched the stars, holding the lightsaber a little tighter.

*

They landed on the green surface of D’Qar, though Rey didn’t learn the planet’s name until a few months later.

The first period at the Resistance base was a blur, being passed from carer to carer (whoever was off-duty at the moment) and learning her new place in the hierarchy of the rebels.

Sometimes she would catch an important looking woman watching her with a sad look in her eyes, but she would quickly look away, once caught. Years later, general Organa would confess to her that Rey’s grief during those first weeks had been almost unbearable, constantly broadcasted to the other force-sensitive woman like a loud siren.

Young Rey had come to understand that everyone on the base served a purpose, and in order not to lose her precarious status of uninvited guest, she had to become useful too. Besides, spending her days in a windowless room staring at the grey panels on the ceiling had gotten boring soon.

Dreaming of flying in battle as the youngest co-pilot in history, Rey had mustered up the courage to ask for a job, to discover that the only available position for a seven year old was the disappointing role of tech trainee in the shipyard. She was assigned a new bed in the technicians’ dorms; that night, listening to fifty people breathing beside her, under her, above her, she slept a little better.

*

Rey grew up surrounded by machines, sometimes quite literally. After eight hours on the job, passing screwdrivers and welding equipment around, she’d fall asleep inside ship hulls and behind control panels, warmed by whirring cables and humming engines. 

An X-wing held no secrets for her, and she could easily tell which wires needed to be reconnected if the heating in her quarters was not working properly.

When no one was around, Rey would float the tools from their plastic case on the ground to her waiting hand, her grip on the Force loose and uncertain, but getting stronger.

*

Rey couldn’t remember the last time she had thought about the temple, when she heard two technicians whispering in the mess hall. 

“Poor thing, to lose her friends so young” From the corner of her eye, she could see one of them nodding their head towards her. Rey kept her gaze on her tray, gripping her spoon too tightly. She forced herself to swallow.

“I still don’t understand why Skywalker would send her here” said the other, munching on his lunch. “To be left here with strangers, after that whole fire thing…”

“They’re saying that the First Order was behind it, no wonder Skywalker fled”  
Rey lifted her head at the mention of her Master, her ears straining to hear as much as possible “I’d be scared shitless too if Snoke was looking for me”.

“You know, being part of the Resistance means Snoke is technically looking for you…”

The two burst out laughing, but Rey was already running off to the hangar, hiding inside an old ship. Before she could stop it, a tear stained her brown uniform, then another, until the echo of her sobs filled the cramped space.

Rey desperately wanted to go back to the mess hall and tell those men that brave Master Skywalker would never hide from a threat, and if he was nowhere to be found, that was because he was away on important Jedi business.  
Even without his lightsaber, hidden in the folds of Rey’s dress robes, her Master was the most powerful man she knew, surely more powerful than this Snoke person.

And what even was the First Order? Even though she had been living on the base for years now, Rey had never enquired about what the Resistance actually did, afraid that too much curiosity might get her kicked out.

She knew they fought, frequently and viciously, because she was constantly fixing holes and replacing cannons on their ships. From her vantage point high up on a ship’s wing, she had seen pilots led away towards med bay on stretchers, some screaming in pain, others unnervingly silent.  
The First Order had to be the cruel enemy they were fighting, also responsible for setting the temple -her home- on fire.

A siren signaled the end of lunch break. Rey tentatively stepped out of the ship and looked over at the people hurrying around the shipyard, pilots and technicians and doctors and generals working together towards the same goal.

That night, as she floated a couple of screws above her head, twelve year old Rey made up her mind. It was about time she truly joined the Resistance.

________

 

After the fire, there was only rage.

Ren didn’t remember much from the years after the event: wandering from planet to planet, from ship to ship, abandoning everything he ever knew until then, his family, his masters, his uncle, always his uncle clouding his thoughts with even more fury, powering his body and mind through hunger and cold and pain. The lonely nights in unfamiliar beds, his future unknown.

Then Snoke, the First Order, the ruthless training sessions, finally a clear purpose and a way to channel his endless rage. Then the realization: there was no such thing as good or evil with the Force, but rather weakness and power, and Force, he would never be weak again.  
He would never be caught off guard by those he trusted, so he vowed to never trust again. 

He shed his old name and his old face, letting his hair grow out and then wearing a mask, like his grandfather did. When it was time to make his own lightsaber, he crafted a weapon as red as the flames of his fury.

 

CHAPTER 2  
Six years later

“Quick! Pass me a screwdriver!” Rey screamed over the thunder of the smoking engine “They’ll be coming back any second now”.

Being eighteen and in charge of an emergency repair team was no joke. She needed to be firm and respectful of other technicians’ experience at the same time. Rey had been with this team for a couple of weeks now, and thankfully the chemistry was undeniable.

“One screwdriver coming right down” said someone above her head, followed by a hand holding a small metal tool. 

Rey caught the screwdriver without looking, and went right back to the problem. The ship’s engine had been partially blasted off by an enemy laser beam. If they didn’t patch it up quickly, the First Order cannons were going to reduce them all to fine dust.

In her mind, she went through the ship’s blueprints, trying to find a way to reroute some of the damaged wires. The electric fire had been put out before sending her down into the engine pit, but the heat was still suffocating.

“The base says we have two minutes before we have to abandon ship”

Sweat poured down her nose, but Rey was too focused on cutting and connecting wires to even notice.

“Yeah, just-“ Her cable cutter slipped from her sweaty hand, but she kept it floating next to her with a passing thought “-I’ll be done in a second”.

She was so close to figuring it out, she could feel it coming together in her mind.

Everything went dark. 

_________

Ren had been living on this Star Destroyer for some time now, carrying out the Supreme Leader’s orders from afar. 

The work was dull, mainly watching over the highest rank generals and reminding them of their place with his imposing presence. There was a mission every now and then, extracting and interrogating Resistance members for information about their next move, but Ren had not felt the satisfaction of completing a hard task in a while, had not bent the Force to his will the way he knew he could.  
He felt stretched thin, filled with wasted potential.

“Ren” General Hux’s repulsing voice shook him out of his thoughts. “Supreme Leader Snoke calls for your presence”.

Ren marched away towards the throne room without giving an answer. He already knew. He could feel his master when Snoke allowed him to. 

The massive doors slid open for him as he approached. The huge hologram of his master suddenly lit up, almost startling him. 

“My apprentice, this is a fine day for the First Order” Ren looked up, surprised. That was new. Snoke usually reprimanded him for his lack of control, asked for a brief summary of his missions, then assigned him a new task. “We know from Resistance prisoners that there is new information about Skywalker’s location.”

Ren recoiled at the mention of his uncle. His mind went back to the night of the fire, the betrayal, the disgust. How weak the mighty Luke Skywalker had been.

“Despite him hiding for years, his mere presence is a potential threat to the First Order. Forget all other missions. Your one and only focus now is to find Skywalker and kill him.”

 

CHAPTER 3

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn’t inside the steaming engine pit anymore. 

She was flying at light speed, sitting in the cockpit of a one-pilot ship. Her hands were covered with black gloves, but something was off about them. She was in a rush. She had to get to the Resistance pilots before they got away.

Rey came to with a gasp. Someone -a tech on her team- was helping her up the stairs, outside the engine room.

“The engine“ she said in an alarmed tone “I have to-“

“It’s too late, we’ve got orders to evacuate” Rey felt the depressurization of the airlock connecting the broken ship to the smaller tech vessel “Those bastards are coming, and it’s better to lose a ship than to risk being captured”.

In the rational part of her brain, it made sense. Being captured meant being tortured for information, which -apart from the atrocious pain- could lead to the fall of the rebellion.

Still, Rey fumed at the thought of having failed her mission. What had happened down there? She had been so close to figuring out how to fix the ship. Then she had been transported somewhere else entirely, piloting a ship she had never seen before. And it had felt so vividly real.

Rey worried a nail between her teeth; from her seat, she could see the smoking hull of the ship they had just left, getting smaller and smaller. Her distraction had lost the Resistance an important resource.

There would be no sleeping that night.

______

Ren slammed the cockpit door closed, crossing the hangar in long, angry strides. Stormtroopers ran out of his way, opening up a path like fish avoiding a shark. Battleships were still landing next to him, or hovering just outside the huge hangar doors, waiting for instructions, but Ren didn’t notice any of them. His mind was a whirlwind of confused thoughts, a tangle of questions and unfinished answers. 

A crowd of pilots was forming a queue in front of the elevators.

“Out of the way” he growled, the sound deepened by his mask. 

He entered an elevator alone and force-pushed the sliding doors closed. The journey to his quarters was short and blissfully silent, the elevator quietly ascending through the entrails of the Star Destroyer. A robotic, genderless voice announced his floor.

As soon as the doors had closed behind him, Ren removed the mask and rested his eyes in the darkness. Stars and the ship’s own lights outlined the silhouette of the room’s sparse furniture and its gleaming metal floor. The only audible sound was the faint whir of the ventilation system.

He had felt another force user on that rebel ship. More worryingly, they hadn’t felt like Skywalker at all. His signature in the Force was -or had been- strong and bright, almost blinding; even after years, it disturbed Ren’s own control.

The flare in the force he had noticed that day was the first sparkle of Light he had felt in a long time. Even though raw and uncontrolled, it had been powerful enough to catch Ren unaware. 

When he had tried to investigate it further, a spontaneous connection had immediately formed between Ren and the other force user; suddenly he was welding two cables together in a smoking room, alarms blaring above him: his hands, when he had looked at them, were smaller and covered in grease.

Like a dream, nothing had felt strange about the situation at all, until he had snapped out of it, his gloved hands crushing the control panel in his own ship. By then, the rebels had fled; he had failed his mission. 

Snoke was wrong; Skywalker wasn’t the only enemy left. Moreover, while his uncle was probably hiding on some forgotten planet at the end of the galaxy, cowering in fear of the First Order, this person was actively working against it.

Ren sat at the table, brow furrowing in concentration. He had plans to make and one more Jedi in the galaxy to kill.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen idk if i should keep going, i have the story all mapped out, i just need to write it out in a decent way lemme knowww


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 4

“Please come in. Close the door behind you” 

Rey managed to calm her trembling hands enough to push the metal panel close. She winced as it made a scratching sound against the uneven floor. The room was big but cramped, flickering screens on every vertical surface and tablets stacked in uneven piles, but also old fashioned paper maps and, curiously, an old blaster, casually laid on a shelf like an ancient resting animal. Like the rest of the base, there were no windows.

General Organa was observing her from behind her desk. Rey was sure the woman’s quick, intelligent eyes hadn’t missed the way she hesitated as she took a seat. 

“Don’t worry. You’re not being punished” said the general, smiling. Rey slightly relaxed her posture, still waiting for the bomb to drop “On the contrary, actually”

Rey opened her mouth, still looking for a way to justify what had happened on the ship the day before, but the words didn’t come to her. How could she explain what she herself didn’t understand at all? Luckily, general Organa didn’t seem to expect a response, picking up a tablet instead. She scrolled through a file for a while, that mysterious half-smile still on her face.

“I see here that you have been a model employee since your arrival at the base. Not one missed day at work, a good relationship with your team, and an astounding ability to lead for such a young age” Rey kept her silence; being showered with praise made her uncomfortable. Her only objective was to help the cause of the rebellion, even though she couldn’t help but take pride in her job. “Also, between you and me, a force user of undeniable strength”

Rey gasped. She hadn’t exactly kept it a secret, what with floating random objects her way when she needed them and all, but she had made sure to be alone when she did it. Was the general about to fire her? And how did she even know?

“I- I don’t-“ she stuttered.

“Breathe, child” Rey bristled at the name. Organa’s eyes were still twinkling, watching her reaction. “Don’t you worry; I suspect I am the only other force-sensitive being on this base. Still, you must learn how to control your feelings if you want to keep them private”

“I will” said Rey, almost too loudly “I promise!”

She wondered if the general was waiting for her to confess what had happened the day before, that weird connection that had surely something to do with the Force.

“But this is not why I wanted to meet you today” the general continued, apparently unbothered by the interruption. Rey slouched a bit in her seat; Organa didn't know, then. “You see, a few days ago, a pilot of ours got his hands on important information that could lead to the discovery of Luke Skywalker’s location”

Rey’s heart skipped a beat. It hadn’t been wishful thinking. Her master was alive! After all these years, he was somewhere in the same galaxy as Rey, wielding the same force. 

“The First Order also knows about this; the ship you were on yesterday was carrying those maps back to our base. Thankfully, we have been able to retrieve them” General Organa paused for a few seconds.

Rey released a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. She couldn’t contain herself anymore.  
“If you don’t mind me asking, general, where is he then? Where is master Skywalker?”

Leia lowered her gaze to her hands “You see, another piece is needed to complete the map. For now, we need to transport this information to the base on Blyria 5D, where it can be stored safely away from the enemy” Her eyes returned to Rey, once again filled with determination “This is where you come in. Your qualities make you the perfect candidate for the mission. On the pretense of transferring to Blyria, you will bring the chip with the info on it with you”

Rey was speechless once again. A mission of this entity, being assigned to her?

“There is a small downside, unfortunately. We have to outsmart any spies that might be hiding in this base. For this reason, you will tell no one of the real meaning of your transfer, and after you get to Blyria, you’ll do real technician work there for a few weeks. We want no suspicions to arise from your move”

General Organa took Rey’s hand in hers. They were pleasantly warm. “So, what do you think?”

Rey smiled, meeting the general’s gaze.  
“When do I leave?”

*

Blyria 5D was a small planet covered by a deep-green ocean. A few small islands drowning in vegetation were the only land Rey had seen from the shuttle before landing.

From the ground, the planet surface was even wilder, with the tropical forest claiming every inch of available terrain. At night, birds would sing loudly, calling to each other all across the island. 

After having dropped the chip off to an unassuming droid, Rey had been immediately assigned new quarters. On her new work pad was her schedule; she was supposed to work with a partner on installing new fuses, changing the oil, cleaning the fuel tank, and whatever else the old ships in the hangar needed. A basic assignment, and Rey would have complained if she hadn’t had talked with General Organa before leaving. 

She was to work on Blyria, so that was what she was going to do. 

It was nearly time for dinner, and Rey was famished after a long journey with replicated food, but she supposed there was still time to at least meet the partner she would be working with for the next weeks. After asking around, she was directed to the tech dorms, which were eeringly similar to the ones on D’Qar. Guess the furniture comes in handy packages just waiting to be assembled.

The big room was filled with bunk beds, and once again, without windows. Every surface was a cold and uninviting grey. Rey sighed, and went looking for her partner. Bunk 74…75…

Bunk 76 was currently occupied by a dark-haired man, too focused on reading something on his pad to notice her. He was wearing the regulation tech uniform, which was a little strained on his large shoulders, the only part of him Rey could see, apart from his hair.

She cleared her throat and extended a hand to introduce herself. She briefly wondered if her new partner was an asshole.  
“I’m Rey”

Her partner turned to face her, shaking his shaggy hair out of his eyes.  
“Ben. Nice to meet you”

__________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dudes i have the story all planned out but i don't know if i should continue  
>  let me know if you want more of this trash


	3. Chapter 3

Ben. That’s who he he was now. Despite his contempt for the name the Solos had picked for him, Ren acknowledged it was a smart idea to choose a name he was familiar with, as not to arise suspicions. Still, it was an unpleasant dive into the past; the scratchy tech uniform reminded him of his old Padawan robes, and the barracks where he slept had the same feel of the sleeping quarters he had shared with other Jedi apprentices.

The smell was the same too, the stench of too many people crowded in an unventilated room like animals in a stable. It got hot very fast at night, and Ren was positive he could feel other people’s breath on his face, even when he was alone in the barracks. He hoped it wouldn’t be too long before he got his information on Skywalker so he could leave this damned place behind as soon as possible. ‘If I don’t choke to death in my sleep before I can find it.’

After several days of intense persuading, his source had pointed to Blyria 5D. Apparently, the map to his traitorous uncle was somewhere on this sorry excuse of a planet. Posing as a technician eager to contribute to the efforts of the Resistance, Ren had been assigned a bed and a partner. Still, after three days of work, he was blessedly alone, the other tech nowhere to be seen. Just as well. This way he could sneak out during breaks and search for the map undisturbed. 

*

Ren was looking for the base blueprints on his work pad. He had just finished a shift and had tried to check a couple of server rooms for the map, but he didn’t know the way and had found his way to the barracks instead. He had felt distracted all day, like the force was trying to tell him something.

He had just managed to access the base archives, when he heard someone clearing their throat. He kept scrolling through the document, hoping the disturber would just go away if ignored. 

“I’m Rey”

Repressing the urge to roll his eyes, Ren turned around on his cot and struggled to put on a welcoming expression. A slender girl was standing in front of him with a hand on her hip, the other held out towards him. She wasn’t tall, but since he was still seated on his bed, he had to look up to reach her face. Her eyes were brown, he noted, lighter than his.

“Ben. Nice to meet you”. He had the presence of mind to offer his hand as well.

As soon as their fingertips brushed against each other, Ren felt a spark of recognition crackling up his arm: he was on the Rebel ship again, surrounded by smoking cables. He struggled to keep his face neutral and shook her hand. He felt naked without the barrier of his mask.

The girl -Rey- seemed to notice the connection as well, though she didn’t look as upset as Ren was feeling. She was considering her own hand with fascination, turning it in the yellow light of the barracks as if seeing it for the first time.

*

The noise of conversation and clanking cutlery in the mess hall seemed louder than usual. Ren kept eating in silence, his eyes lowered to the plate of beige something. Despite its appearance, the dish wasn’t entirely unpalatable. In front of him, the girl -his partner, apparently- was digging into it with enthusiasm, not caring about manners.

After their connection, both of them had pretended like nothing had happened. Rey had located her bunk, next to Ren’s own, and had changed into her new uniform. She had then insisted on walking to the mess hall together, to ‘get to know each other’. Ren hadn’t objected, and had quietly followed the stream of hungry workers on their way to dinner, the girl bouncing on her steps next to him. 

Despite her innocuous appearance, Rey was dangerous, and a potential obstacle to his mission. Ren had felt her raw power just a few days before. She was strong with the Force, but since she was a technician, he suspected she was oblivious to her abilities. Why else would the Rebels waste such a source of power? 

“So…What do you do here for fun?” said the girl, her mouth half full. She was drawing lazy circles in the air with the tip of her knife. 

Ren considered ignoring her, but he had a feeling it would not work. Besides, it would only be beneficial to his mission to get closer to the girl: being ignorant of her powers meant she probably didn’t have any connections to the Jedi or information about Skywalker, but checking anyway wouldn’t hurt. If Ren failed to find the map, the girl would be an alternative. He just had to extract what she knew-if she knew anything at all- and then quietly do away with her. 

Ren almost smiled, watching the plan unfurl in front of him. 

__________

 

Rey turned on her side, kicking the sheets at the end of the small bed. The sleeping quarters were hot and getting hotter by the minute. Across the narrow aisle, her partner’s chest rose slowly in the darkness.

She wondered if Ben had felt the same spark she had, when their hands had met earlier that day. Rey had been careful not to touch him again, even though her partner didn’t seem to have noticed at all. She didn’t know anything about him; it was careless to risk revealing her abilities to him. At the same time, she felt paranoid. Ben seemed a nice, if quiet, guy.

She took a deep breath and turned on her back again, closing her eyes.

*

Judging by the state of the ships, Blyria hadn’t used its defense fleet in some years. Rust from years in the dusty hangar covered every vessel, and a couple of cleaning bots were desperately brushing the layers of soot away, beeping in discontent. 

Since the Resistance was trying to repopulate its fleet after a few disastrous encounters with the First Order, every last miserable ship counted. Rey raised her eyes from the electrical panel she was fiddling with, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Hundreds of techs were working in the hangar, giving new life to scrap metal. 

“Are you done down there?” said Rey towards the general direction of the cockpit “It’s almost break time”

Ben was a quiet worker. After a few hours of silence, Rey had almost picked up some electrical tape with the Force, forgetting her partner. Thankfully, she had repressed the instinct on time. 

“Yeah” Ben’s head poked from the metal sliding door “Almost”

He went back to work. Rey snorted -as quietly as possible, which wasn’t very quiet- and started picking up her tools, returning them to their case. A rebellious screwdriver rolled under a cabinet.

“You’re a quiet one, huh?” She desperately tried to start a conversation. It was fine by her if Ben needed the quiet to focus, but she grimaced at the thought of spending eight hours a day without uttering a word.

“Yes” He said with a straight face. He was standing behind her, his tool bag in one hand and his work gloves in the other. 

Rey turned, smiling openly at her partner. He was going to be a fun one to break. She patted his shoulder and opened the hatch on the floor, revealing a ladder.

“Shall we?”

*

Despite the fatigue of the day, Rey rolled in bed, turning the thin pillow in the empty hope of finding the other side colder. She opened her eyes in the darkness. The barracks had quieted down. Everyone else was asleep. Well, almost everyone. Across the aisle, Ben’s cot was empty. 

Rey’s bare feet hit the floor, a pleasant half degree colder than the rest of the room. Shoes were too much of a bother, and she wouldn’t risk making noise and waking up the others. 

With light steps, she followed the faint strip of blue light on the floor, finding the door. Thank the Force, it slid open with just a slight mechanical hiss.   
The hallway lamps were blinding, and she took a few moments to adjust to the light, blinking repeatedly. 

Rey let her instinct lead her through empty rooms. She found herself going up several flights of old service stairs, to a rusty door that led outside. The sign on it said ‘Observation Deck 5’. The door closed behind her, but she barely noticed it. She took a deep breath of fresh air. It had the sweet smell of tropical flowers in bloom. 

Rey observed her naked feet in the starlit night. The floor was rough cement, and it scratched pleasantly against her toes. She was about to go back inside, when she noticed a dark figure in the outermost corner of the deck. The stranger was leaning back on his hands, seated on the edge with his long legs dangling in the darkness. A few leaves fluttered next to his head in a weird swirling pattern. 

She freezed. It was a windless night; there was no breeze to move the leaves. The man had to be the one moving them. Could it be…? The spark she had felt between them suddenly made more sense. Another Force user, so close to her, and she hadn’t even noticed-

The man turned sharply, the leaves falling on his shoulders and on the cement.   
“Rey” he said, getting on his feet “You surprised me”

“Ben” Rey tried to keep her tone even, but she could feel her voice wavering “I-“

“You saw it, didn’t you?” Ben rubbed a hand through his dark hair, smiling like a kid caught in a prank, not in the least remorseful for his actions. His bright eyes glittered with mischief under his lashes. 

“Uh… What? Saw what? I don’t-“ Rey started blubbering, damning her stupid brain. Thankfully Ben saved her from embarrassing herself even further.

“I mean, the secret’s out now. We might as well talk about it” He gestured to the spot on the ground where he was seated just a moment ago. Rey lowered herself to the ground, her mind hazy. Her bare feet dangled off the edge, next to his. Ben was looking at something in the distance, in the thick forest in front of them. At night it was just a shade darker than the sky. What did he see?

“When we met, a few days ago, a connection formed between us. Did you feel it?” Ben turned to Rey, watching her expectantly. She felt a strong urge not to disappoint him. At the same time, it would be wise not to reveal her powers.

“Yes, I noticed something like that” She said vaguely “What was it?” 

“What I’m about to say will change your world, forever” Ben considered his words for a second “You have heard of the Force, right?” 

Rey felt a tingle in her spine. 

“Yeah, I mean, every kid has fantasized about being a Jedi and fighting with Luke Skywalker” Blue eyes twinkling with mirth in front of her. A lightsaber bound against her ribs. Fire. She forced herself to continue “But it’s just a legend, isn’t it?”

“It’s true. All of it” said Ben. Rey didn’t have to fake her surprise. She hadn’t expected Ben to come out and say it so directly “The Force is everywhere around us, inside us. There are some that can feel it more than others, however. Force-sensitive beings” 

“Like me?” Rey kept the farce up, to discover how much Ben knew.

“Exactly. And then there are people who can control the Force. There was a school for them” He paused, rolling a leaf between his fingers “I went to it. An academy of sorts”

Rey widened her eyes. What? Ben had lived in the Temple too? She quickly did the math; he looked about ten years older than her. It was possible she didn’t remember him- and him her, thankfully. She had been so young-   
Ben was observing her closely. She had to say something.

“Why are you here, then?” she said suddenly “If you trained to be a Jedi…what happened? Everyone knows they’re all dead -if they existed at all!”

Ben’s eyes darkened. His gaze left hers “There was a fire, a long time ago. The temple was destroyed. The last Jedi died. I ran and waited for the fire to go out. Then I took a ship and flew away”

Rey silently willed him to go on with a hand on his arm. She could feel the strong emotion in his voice. 

“There wasn’t anyone in the galaxy who would miss me. I had no family” Ben exhaled, as if expelling grief instead of air “I sold the ship, boarded a freighter and became a technician”

Their stories were so eerily similar, Rey had no reply. They listened to the birds singing in the jungle for a few minutes. It wasn’t an unpleasant silence. 

“I could teach you, if you want” Ben’s eager voice startled her “The ways of the Force. How to bend it to your will”

Something itched inside her. Bend. She would not give up her secret yet, even if Ben was just a nice person trying to help her. Secrets were powerful, and she needed all the power she could get. That didn’t mean they could not be friends, though.

“Er- no, thanks” Ben raised his eyebrows, surprised “I don’t think I’m ready for it. Yet. I’ll think about it, yeah?” She kept adding words, nervously.

Ben’s eyes closed off all of a sudden. He seemed upset. Maybe he had thought he’d found someone to share his powers with. Rey sighed and got up, extending her hand.

“Come on. It’s late and we have the first shift tomorrow. Let’s go”

Ben nodded. When their hands met, she felt a faint spark going up her arm, but chose to ignore it. They made their way to the door and down the stairs.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve heard you say more than three words at a time” She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. Ben finally laughed a little “We’ll make a great team.”


	4. Chapter 4

Rey balanced a roll of duct tape on two fingers. Three days had passed since her conversation with Ben, and thankfully he hadn’t pressed the issue. The more she dwelled on it, the more she considered actually accepting Ben’s offer.

Completing her barely started training would certainly give her a needed advantage. If Rey had to be honest, gaining control of the Force appealed to her for selfish reasons; sure, she would be a great asset to the Resistance, but most importantly, it would finally fill the gap she felt in herself, something inside of her that begged for more. Sometimes Rey was startled by the intensity of this desire. She felt raw and incomplete, now that the offer of more knowledge was dangling in front of her eyes.  
Yet she would resist. She could find other ways to train, when the mission on Blyria was over.

Rey rose, putting the duct tape back in her overalls pocket. It was their free day, and she hadn’t seen Ben in a while. She slid the straps back on her shoulders and set off to find him.

*

She had denied him.  
Ren was frustrated, but most of all he was baffled. How could anyone refuse such an offer? To the untrained Rey, learning about the force and how to manipulate it must have have looked like water to the thirsty.

Ren hadn’t meant to approach her that night, but he’d made up his mind when he’d heard her steps on the stairs- and he had recognized her immediately. Through the curious connection that had formed between them, he’d had no doubt that it was Rey’s light steps on the concrete, her small hand on the door, her heart beating to the same nervous pace as his own.

He’d levitated some fallen leaves on the deck, waiting for her reaction; and it had come, quicker than he’d expected. She had shown interest, and her hazel eyes had lit up with excitement. Yet, she had denied him.

A loud alarm noise, accompanied by flashing red lights, blasted through the dining hall.  
‘All available technicians required on Deck 3. All techs on Deck 3’

Ren pushed off the dining table, making his way to the deck. Let her stew in her own thoughts a little longer. In his head, he was already piecing together different plans to convince the stubborn girl.

*

Rey held fast to her seatbelt. It seemed a little too dingy to be safe. Not that she’d be safe where they were going. Her last mission on a battleship had been a failure. Her knees were shaking. An enemy short-range virus had disabled most of the rebel fleet’s engines.

‘Never heard of a thing like that’ said a woman on her left.

Rey and a dozen others were being shuttled to the fleet to figure out the problem. Across from her, Ben was slouching in his seat, apparently unbothered by the chaos.

‘Yeah, it must be a new one. Those bastards…’ replied a man in front of her.

They suddenly came out of light speed, the shuttle shaking wildly. The metal paneling clanked around them. Rey clenched her fingers around the arm rests, leaving nail-shaped indents in the fabric.

They were fast approaching the docking point of one of the largest ships. The space around it was filled with smoke and floating debris. Farther away, she could see enemy cannons blasting the remains of the rebel ships. Rey inhaled sharply; time to work.

*

Ren wiped sweaty hair away from his eyes. They had been at it for an hour, and the battle still seemed to continue, a few klicks away. He frowned, looking through a small window as First Order cannons obliterated the enemy. As important as keeping up the farce was, Ren had no intention of being blasted off by his own soldiers while undercover.

Though appearing to be useful, Ren wasn’t about to help filthy rebels overcome his new weapon. Ren himself had been consulted on its design some months before, and he had been satisfied with its efficiency. He busied himself near an open panel, switching to different tools without actually touching anything.

Now and then, he glanced towards the girl. She was observing some engine stats on a monitor. With her sharp mind, she’d soon figure out how to override the First Order code.

The floor trembled under his feet. The battle was getting nearer, and the enemy shots truer.

‘Shit. Fuck. Almost there.’ said Rey hurriedly ‘Come on-‘

A blast hit a cannon tower above their heads.

‘Section A breached. Engine Room 3 sealed’ announced a robotic voice.

Ren winced; he could feel the air being sucked out of the vessel into the emptiness of space. He didn’t particularly trust Rebels ship to keep the engine room airtight.  
A second blast, dangerously near, interrupted his thoughts. They needed to evacuate, fast. He marched towards the girl, interrupting her frantic coding.

‘Rey, it’s time’ He physically removed her from the console, looking for the docking point they had come from ‘We’re gonna get fried by the next shot’

‘I got this! I-‘ the stubborn girl was refusing to move. Ren briefly considered leaving her to her doom. Instead he pushed her towards the sealed exit to the shuttle, where other techs were hurrying to. ‘Ben, we have to fix it! The pilots will die if we don’t restart the engines!’

If she thought she could convince Ren to stay on that ticking bomb one second longer-  
‘Listen. We are going to die if we don’t get out’ Ren was losing his patience. Source of intel or not, he was leaving the idiot girl on the ship.

‘Ben, don’t you care? They will die!’ screamed Rey over the beeping alarms. Something about a failing air ventilation system.

Another powerful shot hit the hull, right next to them, detaching some cables from the panel. That was it. He grabbed Rey by the wrist, hard enough to leave bruises. He didn’t care.

‘I’m not waiting here to die. The resistance has no use for dead techs’

Rey struggled all the way down the corridor, trying to break free. The shuttle door hissed closed behind them just as an explosion wrecked the engine room.

*  
‘How many did we leave?’  
‘About 18. We couldn't fit all of them in this tin can’  
‘Gods-‘  
‘I’m sure they evacuated as well’

The shuttle was filled to the brim. They were all standing, pushed one against the other. Rey didn’t even have to use her legs to keep herself up- she probably couldn’t have. The adrenaline from before had left her. She closed her eyes. Just like her last mission, she'd failed again.

Over the anxiety and tiredness and stress of other passengers, she could feel souls being released into the force. They were dead. She had left them to die.  
She hadn’t been quick enough, or smart enough, or strong enough. She was so exhausted, she couldn't cry. She couldn’t even bring herself to be mad at Ben. Rationally, she knew she would have died on that ship as well, hadn’t he dragged her on the shuttle.

Ben, who was towering over her, his gaze lost. Ben, who apparently wasn’t as careless as he had seemed on the way to the battle. His eyes had been wide, his movements frantic. He’d been afraid to die, like all of them.

It had been a while since Rey had felt so small and powerless. Maybe since the fire, even. She shivered. She had promised herself she would never be as weak.  
Fuck her trust issues. Ben was going to train her as soon as they got on base.


	5. Chapter 5

‘Again’

Ren’s voice resonated in the empty room. He stood over the girl’s crouched body on the concrete floor, a wooden cane in his hand.

Rey let out a grunt and got to all fours, panting. She wiped her forehead before standing up, collecting her own cane from where it had rolled a few feet away. The girl was resilient, if nothing else. She would take his harsh training in her stride, never doubting his commands. The progress she had made in just a week had been quite surprising.

‘Ok, let’s do this’ she said, her gaze filled with determination. Her muscles had to be hurting after hours of sparring, but she had almost managed to catch him unaware a couple of times. Almost. Ren’s response was always swift and punishing, shoving her to the floor.

The girl adopted a fighting stance again, bouncing lightly on her feet. Her hair was wild and out of her usual bun, giving her a feral look. Ren waited for her to make the first move, as always. She didn’t keep him waiting for long.

Rey darted forward, her staff towards his stomach, but Ren was quicker, jumping out of the way and dodging the hit with his own staff. Wood clashed and creaked against wood. She huffed, trying to hold him off. He caught her eyes.

‘Focus’ he said ‘Feel the world around you. Feel my thoughts’

Ren swung his cane, going for her arm. Rey almost escaped, but wasn’t quick enough; she cursed, holding her elbow, but quickly got back into the fight. They were further apart now, Rey trying to assess his next move.

‘Better’ he said, and the encouragement seemed to pick her up, her stance firm and her back straight.

This time she gave him no time, attacking him with new strength, though it wasn’t enough. He swung out of the way and hit her on the thigh. She cried out, crumbling at his feet. Ren took a step back, considering ending the practice. It had been a long day, and he was starting to feel the strain.

After a second or two, Rey got up again, cracking her knuckles. She grinned.

‘Again’

 *

He was on the floor, reaching for his staff. The practice had been long and strenuous, and his muscles refused to cooperate.

Other children were looking at him across the training room, observing him, judging him. It would not do to be seen as weak. Master Skywalker -that was how he was to be called at the Temple- smiled genially, offering a hand. He ignored it and stood on his own, adjusting his robe. His arm hurt where he’d been hit moments before.

‘You’re using your anger, Ben’ said his uncle ‘Don’t let it lead you towards dangerous paths’

‘What am I supposed to do, then?’ he raised his voice, maybe too much to be respectful. The other children took a sharp breath. His master raised an eyebrow.

‘Focus’ he said ‘Feel the world around you. Feel my thoughts’

Ben gripped his staff in frustration, hearing it crack in complaint. As if he hadn’t done that. He found meditation and connecting with his soul-per master Skywalker’s words- very difficult, more than other padawans. He was used to be the best at everything.

Master Skywalker was looking at him with gentle eyes. He didn’t need his pity.

‘Again’ he growled.

*

Water hit Ren’s back, soothing his aches. Since being undercover, he had slacked on his personal training. He was thankful for the exercise he got by teaching the girl, even if she had nothing on his usual sparring companions.

Well. That was a lie. The girl was progressing exponentially, seeming to have a natural grasp on the force. What had once been hard for him- connecting with the force as a whole, feeling it around him- was intuitive for her. Also, working from a young age had given her decent muscle mass to work on.

He found himself thinking about her more and more these days. With her potential, she could have been a great ally to the First Order. Ren imagined bringing her to Snoke, then immediately changed his mind. He would torture her for information and leave her to die. His master wouldn’t see the potential hidden behind her waifish figure and wide-eyed gaze.

Yet, he had a mission to complete. His time on the enemy base was getting longer and he had gained no new informations. He hadn’t gotten much out of the girl, and he hadn’t figured out where the rebels were hiding the damn intel. Also, he couldn’t let Rey go, after discovering her power. She could become a threat to the First Order.

More time. A little bit more and he would figure it all out. He would not fail.

*

Ren paced around the empty training room.  
The girl was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed, her eyes closed. Her eyebrows twitched in concentration.

‘What do you see?’ he said, quietly stopping next to her.

‘I-‘ she frowned, squeezing a hand around her knee ‘I feel you. I feel you standing here. You’re frustrated’

Ren was slightly impressed, but he kept his tone flat.  
‘That’s predictable. What else?’

The girl fell silent for a minute, deep in thought.  
‘I can feel other people. Outside. There’s someone in the next room, they’re sleeping’ Ren felt them too, as well as a hundred other rebels, hurrying around the base like ants.

‘Be more specific’ He started circling the room again, keeping an eye on the girl.

‘Force, it’s hard’ she said ‘I can’t feel others very much. You’re blinding me’

Ren stopped pacing.  
‘What?’

‘You know, you being so close and all. All I can feel is, well, you.’ she shrugged.

‘Keep trying’ he said, turning his back to her. The girl had surprised him, again. Although he was standing close, his mark in the force shouldn’t have been overpowering to her. Blinding, she’d said. He closed his eyes as well, paying more attention to his surroundings.  
He faltered. There was in fact a brilliant presence in the room, a shining light, not bright enough to blind him, but certainly noticeable.  
Ren hadn’t felt this way since his training with Skywalker, and even then his annoying shine hadn’t been so distracting. Rey seemed to occupy her rightful place in the force, blissfully unaware of her own strength.

He heard her stirring on the floor, impatient.  
‘Come on, big guy, enough for today’ A hand poked at his shoulder. Rey was standing next to him, stretching her legs ‘Besides, I’m starving!’

*

‘Rey’ The girl kept stubbornly stuffing her face with soup ‘I’m going away for some time.’ She finally raised her gaze, curious. ‘For a mission’ He added.

‘A mission, huh?’ She swallowed with a disgusting sound ‘That’s a pity, I’ve just asked the supervisor to extend my stay here’ She looked around furtively ‘For my training, you know’

He nodded in approval. Rey had shown a developing interest in her studies; one night, he had opened his eyes in the dark to find her sitting on her bunk, trying to connect with the force.

‘I will be back. In the meantime, you will practice meditation’

She was so close and pure and bright, inviting him to reach out and touch her. He was lost when it came to Rey. Ren desperately hoped that going back to Starkiller Base would clear his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting two days in a row, who is she


End file.
